TAEMIN and BewhY’s “노키오 (Pinocchio)”
On the June 22, 2018 episode of the variety show The Call, TAEMIN teamed up with K-Hip-Hop artist BewhY to create the original track “노키오 (Pinocchio).” The week prior to that, TAEMIN appeared on the show, where he performed his solo track “MOVE” for the four different teams, earning himself three “Love Calls” in total. After hearing why the teams wanted to work with him, TAEMIN chose the team consisting of BewhY, Shin Seunghun, and Crush, though Crush was not at either episode recording.
From there, the team began working on the track and getting to know each other, with BewhY paying a visit to SM Entertainment’s studio center. Initially shy and awkward, the two artists eventually warmed up to each other and began to talk about their childhoods. With both musicians born in 1993, they shared a lot of similar memories, like top blades and Disney movies, and even talked about their school lives in a conversation that wasn’t able to be aired. It was from the discussion about Disney that led to TAEMIN commenting that he loved Pinocchio growing up, with BewhY following up with how that could be the theme for their song: “You said that you were innocent when you were younger. But after working in this industry, sometimes you have to wear a mask and become someone else.”*
TAEMIN goes on to continue with the idea of how he’s like the fairytale character, saying, “Sometimes I lie out of necessity. And I see myself getting better and better at it. Now I feel like my lies even fool me. I wish people can see right through me when I lie just like Pinocchio.”*
In other clips from The Call that were uploaded to Mnet’s official YouTube channel, you can see just how well TAEMIN and BewhY worked together throughout the writing process. Sitting in the studio during recording in a behind-the-scenes moment, it was TAEMIN’s suggestion to harmonize in part of “노키오 (Pinocchio)” to make it a little more unique. Coming from different worlds, TAEMIN from the K-Pop idol world and BewhY from the K-Hip-Hop scene, the two were able to blend their different realms in an interesting way, while also creating a new friendship. BewhY even says as much in the behind-the-scenes clip of recording, stating, “A lot of hip-hop fans are prejudiced towards K-Pop idol music. I was no exception. I hope this collaboration helps to break that prejudice.”
The performance for “노키오 (Pinocchio)” opened with static on a television screen before clearing up and showing part of Pinocchio. In the movie clip, Pinocchio is seen telling a lie, with his nose growing multiple times. Written in Korean over the clip, the quotes, “Sometimes you get lost between your real self and the mask you put on in front of others,”* and, “Can we go back to the days when we were innocent like little Pinocchio?” are displayed, calling back to TAEMIN and BewhY’s earlier conversations. After the Pinocchio clips faded away, TAEMIN was shown standing alone on the stage with an auto-tuned version of the chorus playing. Once the song officially started, TAEMIN joined the female backup dancers to begin performing the choreography.
While TAEMIN has always been known for his more sensual dance moves, the choreography seen during the performance of “노키오 (Pinocchio)” was more doll-like, specifically like a wooden doll. Just another mask for TAEMIN to hide under, pretending to be Pinocchio, something he and BewhY long for in the lyrics to the song. That’s not to say that TAEMIN’s dancing isn’t still sensual here, just more so a means of hiding the person he is wanting people to truly see.
BewhY joined TAEMIN on stage after the first chorus, where he continued with the metaphor of hiding behind a mask so that people, including himself, can’t tell his true intentions. While BewhY rapped his first verse, he sang the bridge before his chorus, much to the surprise of the other teams. That’s not the only way BewhY surprised the other teams and fans in the crowd though, as the rapper joined TAEMIN for the choreography for the remainder of the performance, though in a much more lax, effortlessly cool kind of way.
“노키오 (Pinocchio)” would go on to chart on the Gaon Weekly Download Chart, the Gaon Weekly BGM Chart, and the Gaon Weekly Bell Chart, with the track peaking at No. 60, No. 38, and No. 78 respectively. While it didn’t linger on the charts as BewhY’s other tracks created on The Call, the collaboration between TAEMIN and BewhY proved that just because two artists come from different genres doesn’t mean they can’t become friends. In a final clip from their The Call episode, BewhY credited their collaboration as letting him experience idol life and said, “If your souls are alike, you can become friends really easily,”* with TAEMIN following up with, “Through The Call, he became a friend that I can open up and talk to.”
While we may not get another collaboration with these two as TAEMIN is currently serving his mandatory military enlistment and BewhY is due to start his later this month, The Kraze hopes to hear more music from these two friends in the future.
*All quotes from TAEMIN and BewhY are from the English subtitles in the YouTube links